BiH to take into account Belgrade’s position on Kosovo when forming its own

Bosnia and Herzegovina will stick to the same position on the independence of Kosovo as Serbia, until Belgrade takes a different position on this issue, Dragan Čović, the chairman of the presidency of BiH, told journalists after a meeting of all three members of the presidency with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on December 6 in Belgrade.

As the president of Serbia stated at a joint news conference, Dragan Čović, representing the Serbian part of BiH, initiated the discussion of the issue related to the attitude of BiH to the status of Kosovo. The participants in the discussion agreed that Sarajevo would share Belgrade's position on this matter, until it changed. Aleksandar Vučić explained that this opinion is shared by all three members of the BiH presidium, and not only the Serbian representative of this body.

As the RTS channel reports, later a member of the BiH presidium from Bosniak Bakir Izetbegovic distanced to a certain extent from Dragan Čović’s statement that Sarajevo's foreign policy in the Kosovo issue will be formed on the basis of Belgrade's position. At the very end of the press conference, during which Čović spoke on behalf of Sarajevo, Izetbegovic took the microphone and clarified that when determining its international policy, BiH would await the decision of Belgrade, but then it intends to independently determine its own line.

"These three people (members of the BiH presidency) from Sarajevo will implement the international policy of BiH. Of course, we will take into account positions of the neighboring countries, because we live with Serbia and Croatia, as well as with the European Union, towards which we have commitments in the integration process. But my position is that our foreign policy is determined in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I asked Čović to voice this (attitude towards the status of Kosovo - EADaily) as his position, and not as a position of the presidency," Izetbegovic told reporters.

President Vučić reacted to this statement with a smile: "It happens like this all the time."

As Vučić specified, he told journalists what the negotiators came to during the discussion, but then some of them had a need to make additional adjustments to the agreements already reached. "It does happen when we talk about Kosovo, and when we talk about the border (Serbia and BiH - EADaily)," Vučić said.

At the meeting of the Serbian president with the leadership of BiH, the demarcation of the border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed as one of the most important issues. According to Aleksandar Vučić, it is important for Serbia that the Zvornik and Bayina Bashta hydroelectric power plants should be located completely in the Serbian territory. To this end Belgrade is ready to cede four and nineteen hectares in another place as may be selected by BiH. Nevertheless, the presidency of BiH made another proposal, which, as reported, will be considered.

As EADaily reported earlier, Bakir Izetbegović in November gave an interview to Deutsche Welle, in which he stated that he hoped for recognition of Kosovo by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Neither did he exclude the possibility of a military scenario in case of a referendum on the withdrawal of Republika Srpska from BiH.